Master of the Divine Fire
by Mach9330
Summary: During the battle with Natsu, Zancrow was not defeated by his own flames but that same attack weakened the seals that kept his true self sealed away. Now Naruto Uzumaki is back in control of his own body, and anyone who gets in his way will taste his black flames! Naruto is Zancrow.
1. Chapter 1

**Master of the Divine Fire**

**Chapter 1**

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Natsu screamed, falling down the mountain and landing, creating a small crater, "Damn mountain, stupid **Godslayer** and his not-able-to-eat-his-fire bullshit!" Natsu yelled frustrated, getting up from the crater and feeling a little sore with literal steam coming out of his ears. Sighing aloud, Natsu decided to calm down.

"Better go find Wendy and Happy to see if they're okay. Then after that, I'll definitely get revenge and beat that Zancrow guy's ass!" Natsu said getting pumped up to fight again. After walking for awhile, Natsu, with his enhanced hearing, heard a soft groan coming from the left of him and decided to check it out to see if it was one of his guild mates. He dashed off immediately, not wanting to waste any more time. Getting to the place where the sound came from, Natsu stood there in shock at the sight before him.

"Gramps..." He whispered in disbelief. Right there in front of him was the guild master of Fairy Tail, Markarov Dreyar, the old man lying beaten on the dirt, bleeding from a hole in his stomach, looking as if he was going die. "Oi, gramps! What happened!? Who did this to you!?"

"Natsu, my boy... you must not face the enemy who did this. I know you won't like to hear this, but... this is one war Fairy Tail will lose."

"Huh!? What are you talking 'bout old man!? Of course we'll win!" Natsu said with a shaky voice not believing that gramps would ever say something like that. The only time he saw him get this beaten up was when the Air Mage from Phantom Lord that cried a lot drained him of his magic but Natsu knew this was entirely different.

"Natsu, you must listen. Take Fairy Tail... take our family and get them off of this land; away from the danger that awaits. I'm trusting that you will complete the last mission I'm giving you." Makarov said in a weary voice, almost inaudible.

"Shut up! This is not the gramps that showed me my new home, the one that gave me hope that I would find Igneel! I promise to you gramps... I promise to beat the guys down who did this! Now let's go look for Wendy so she can fix you up, 'kay." Natsu said get the turmoil in his head to focus on something else. It was then that a black flame landed near them.

"HAHAHAHAHA, I see master Hades already did his number on you, huh, Makarov? HAHAHAHA!" Zancrow said hysterically getting out of the burning crater he made when he jumped off the cliff._ 'No! Not now!'_ Natsu screamed in his head as he shivering visibly in front of both the spectators.

_'What!? Natsu showing fear! Impossible!'_ Makarov thought shocked, never once having seen fear coming off of Natsu, not even against Gildarts.

"Ohohoho the little dragon hunter is quaking in his boots? I don't blame ya! Anyone would cower in front of the 7 Kin- in front me... a **Godslayer**. Hahahaha!" Zancrow arched his back as he laughed loudly towards the sky. Natsu, all the while, was staring at his shaking hands, looking back and forth between Makarov, Zancrow and himself.

"This fear... it's not the one Gildarts was talking about." Natsu said in a whisper, clutching his hands into fists, "This fear I have is not of you, Bastard! I only fear that one of you assholes are gonna hurt my nakama! I will definitely get my hands on the one who's in charge of your guild and burn him to the ground!" Natsu screamed agitated as intense fire crawled up his body. His face twisted into one of extreme anger while all he could think about is how the guy in front of him was belittling his friends. "I'll defeat Master Hades! And I'll do it with my own two hands!"

"Gaahaha, you think you can take down Master Hades? If you think you can defeat him with that lousy powers of yours, you must've fallen off that cliff harder than I thought, **Dragonslayer**!" Zancrow yelled, laughing at the thought of him beating Hades as intense black fire worked its way up his body as well, "That ain't never gonna happen if you can't even beat me, ya stupid punk!"

Natsu, with an intense look in his eyes, pummeled Zancrow several times with his hands coated in Dragonslayer flames, knocking the crazy man back.

"You dumbass! Haven't you been hearing what I say? Your flames are useless against me!" Zancrow cackled madly as between his complete immunity to fire and his impressive physical endurance, Natsu would never be able to so much as scratch him.

The flame covered Natsu leapt across the tall tree's and tried to attack Zancrow with his **Fire Dragon Talon.** Zancrow merely raised his arm and blocked the attack before punching Natsu into the air with his own flame covered fist.

"**Fire Dragon's Roar**!" Natsu shouted his spell as he aimed for Zancrow. As the spell headed toward him, Zancrow couldn't help but grin as he once again ate Natsu's fire, greedily sucking it all in his stomach and watching Natsu's irritated expression with glee. Natsu couldn't stop his anger from rising as he watched his fire get eaten again. The sight of someone else eating the magic Igneel gave him infuriated him to no end; it made him feel weak, and he didn't like it, not one bit. _'There has to be a way I can eat his fire too!_' He growled in his mind.

"HAHAHAHAHA, I'm not going to be able to eat anything else if you keep feeding me your flames, dumbass! Your dragonfire has got nothing on my divine flames, they are on a completely different level!" Zancrow said with venom clearly coming out of his words.

"Put a sock in it!" Natsu yelled, fuming at Zancrow as Natsu landed on a tree and clasped it, "I'll find a way to beat you even if your fire is supposed to be superior!"

"I'm far beyond you, little gecko." Zancrow insulted, further angering Natsu. "Unlike you, I can do more with my flames than just burn shit. I can fashion them into weapons that can cut down any opponent." Zancrow brought the flames in his hands together and combined them into a giant scythe made of black flame.

"**Flame God's Severing Flame**!" Zancrow yelled as he swung a giant scythe made of black flames towards Natsu, who narrowly dodged the attack by jumping high into the air propelled by his flames. As Natsu dodged the attack, multiple giant trees were cleanly cut down by the devastating attack and flew up into the sky while Natsu took full advantage of this.

"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist**!" Natsu yelled, punching the tree down toward Zancrow, who didn't expect something like that as he was crushed under the broken tree. It wasn't long before a fiery explosion came from under the giant tree and blew into smithereens. Coming out of pile of burning wood was Zancrow and was annoyed.

"You know, a god's fire consumes all it touches, burning it to ash... and I pretty sure my fire would love to eat a puny wizard like you," Zancrow said laughing evilly under his breath but loud enough for Natsu to hear, "You're going down, little **Dragonslayer**! **Flame God's Supper**!" Zancrow covered his arms in what looked like two halves of a hungry maw and slammed it together consuming Natsu in the middle.

"Aaaahhhh!" Natsu screamed, hurting from the attack. He felt his skin slowly becoming aware of the heat emitted by the attack as the pressure bearing down on him was intense. The feeling of being crushed between the two solid domes of fire that could actually burn him was not something he wanted to feel ever again.

"Natsu!" Makarov screamed worriedly towards Natsu as he saw him try to eat the black flames to free himself from the fiery prison but failed as he choked on them and spit them out.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, what'd I tell you, you can't eat my flames! Although, it might take a bit longer for my flames to devour you since you're immune to regular fire, but I can wait as long as it takes to get rid of you! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zancrow yelled with a crazed look on his face. While laughing at his impending victory, he felt something huge grab him and start crushing his torso and looking back, he saw Makarov with the arm of a giant trying to turn him into mush.

"WHAT KIND OF HEARTLESS MONSTER WOULD HURT ONE OF MY CHILDREN RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES!? STOP OR I WILL SQUASH YOU LIKE A BUG!" He screamed at Zancrow.

"Hahahahaha! Looks like your gramps is in the game now too! Let's see who can last the longest without dying!" Zancrow screamed in excitement as he lit his body on fire, burning Makarov's hand.

"I pity you, young man, for you do not know the power of family!" Makarov yelled putting more power into his grip on Zancrow who grunted in pain in response.

"Let go of me you fool! Unless you really want to lose that arm that badly!" Zancrow yelled as he felt like his spine was touching his heart.

"GRAMPS!" Natsu yelled, building up his magic power as a globe of his dragon fire surrounded him. Natsu roared painfully while he fought against the pressure of the black flames with his own fire as he struggled to expand his magic and break the spell. But as he tried to fight his way out of the black flames, his own magic eventually gave out and the dragon flames could no longer be seen within the black flames.

_'Natsu's magic power... ran out. It's gone...'_ Makarov thought, thinking of the worst possibility.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Looks like the dragon hunter is the first to go!" Zancrow laughing happily.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Makarov screamed as he put even more pressure on his grip as Zancrow spit out some blood this time. But as a few seconds past, they were both surprised to hear a slurping sound. And when they turned their heads toward the direction the sounds were coming from, what they saw shocked them.

Natsu was eating the divine flames!

"That's not possible! No dragonslayer should be able to eat the element of a Godslayer!" Zancrow yelled with anger crossing his face again.

"Phew, I didn't realize there was trick to eating certain types of fire." Natsu said as he wiped his mouth.

_'Unbelievable! He temporarily emptied his body of Magic Power to become an empty vessel for the foreign magic to enter his body! I wouldn't call such advanced manipulation of Magic a trick!'_ Makarov thought in amazement at once again seeing his child improving to great heights, before he remembered that Natsu nearly died pulling that off. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO FOOLISH, NATSU!? DO YOU WANT TO DIE!" Makarov screamed at Natsu as he threw Zancrow into the air by accident.

"Of course not Gramps. And I won't let anyone else either. No one's dying! We're all gonna make it back home to Fairy Tail!" Natsu said, jumping high in the air to catch up with Zancrow, "_Dragon and Divine Flames, come together to become one_!" He chanted as black fire started circling around his left hand getting bigger, while the same happened with his right hand as his regular flames started getting bigger, "** DRAGON GOD'S BRILLIANT FLAME**!" Natsu yelled intensely, crashing the twin giant orbs of fire between the **Godslayer**, instantly creating a giant explosion blinding the Makarov as they could hear Zancrow laughing painfully at his own defeat.

With the explosion dying down, Natsu landed roughly on the scorched dirt fiiled with ash while tumbling towards Makarov.

"Gramps... I know that you there are times where you can't fight back... that's what Gildarts taught me and that's what you want to do. You want to back down from this fight but right now we can't do that for this war. These guys made an enemy of Fairy Tail and we need to teach them a lesson about that. So let's fight on... G-Gramps." Natsu said determined look in his eyes.

"Natsu!" Makarov yelled. _'We'll definitely fight Natsu... and we will win.'_

"You…pathetic…idiot," came the crazed voice of the blonde godslayer that Natsu thought he just defeated. Both Natsu and Markarov looked to see Zancrow getting back up again. Besides his clothes being frayed and some dust on his person, he was more or less uninjured.

_'He's not even injured!'_ Markarov thought with fear as he could feel himself weakening from the hole in his stomach. He couldn't really fight right now and Natsu was now all out of power from the attack he just used.

"I see what you did there. You emptied your body of all your dragon slayer magic, temporarily making you an empty magic vessel that could consume once-inedible fire." Zancrow said in a unusually calm manner as he dust himself off.

"But don't tell me, that for one minute, you thought you could," Zancrow growled before he started shouting, "**DEFEAT ME WITH MY OWN ELEMENT!? NOW I'M REALLY PISSED OFF AND YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"**

"No! Leave Natsu alone!" Markarov shouted as he enlarged his fist and tried to smash Zancrow like a bug. Zancrow saw this coming and jumped out of the way and into the air.

"Burn, you filthy dragon hunter! **Flame God's Explosive Flame!"** Zancrow shouted as he conjured a ball of his black flames in his hand before throwing it at Natsu with a punch-like motion.

Natsu was not worried. He had eaten the flames before and right now that his body had consumed them once, he should be able to do it again. "I ate your flames once, jerk, and now that I know how to do it again, this will be a piece of cake." As such, Natsu allowed the black flames to hit him again. The moment they hit him, the ball of black flames expanded and engulfed Natsu.

"No problem," Natsu said as his body was empty of magic and he tried once more to consume the flames. However, this time when he tried to consume them, he ended up burning his mouth when he tried to eat these flames and started coughing. He also got several burns on his arms. "Why!? I don't understand, I should be able to eat them while I'm like this."

"You stupid dragon hunter! That kind of trick only works once on someone like me!" Zancrow said as he landed in front of Natsu and began pummeling his face. "My magic is the same magic that the Gods of Fire used! Long ago, long before dragonslayers were a thing, the Gods still interacted with humans They had champions of their own that they taught their magic to. Those Champions would later record their magic and thus, the Godslayers were born. My own magic is the culminated knowledge of two dozen Fire Gods. I am the master of these divine flames! No one can control them but me!"

"You get what I'm saying, dipshit!?" Zancrow asked Natsu as he stopped pummeling him and slugged him in gut, causing spit to fly from Natsu's mouth. "You ain't eating my flames ever again! **Flame God's Hephaestus Hammer!"** Zancrow shouted as black divine flames gathered in both of his hands. He clasped both of his hands together in a tight double hammer fist and swung them down onto the hunched Natsu's back, both smashing him into the ground and creating a destructive circular wave of black fire around them, kicking up a tower of dust and dirt.

When the dust cleared, Markarov could see that Natsu's back was badly burned, he was face down and he wasn't getting back up. '_No! Natsu!'_, Markarov thought in despair.

"Tch, he's still alive." Zancrow said as he saw Natsu was still breathing. He wasn't sure what was going right now, as he didn't remember learning those moves or why he was explaining shit to the pinky but he wanted to make him pay!

"I was gonna play with you some more but I'm done wasting my time! I'm killing both of you right now!" Zancrow shouted as he stepped back, a pillar of his flames erupting from him.

'_He's preparing a massive spell! And I can't do anything to stop him!'_ Markarov thought as he could barely move.

"Say goodbye to the dragon slayer, Makarov! And prepare to witness one of the Sacred Hallowed Arts of the Flame God Slayer!" Zancrow said as he prepared to unleash one of his strongest spell. "**Ebony Inferno: -"**

Zancrow suddenly stopped as the flames died. He would have just now unleashed an attack that would have easily killed both of the weakened Fairy Tail Mages, as well as burn this whole area to ash, but something stopped him. Red lines of runes appeared all over his skin. "What the hell?" Zancrow wondered as pain erupted through his body.

Zancrow shouted out as he fell to his knees in pain. It hurt so bad he felt like every cell in his body was burning to ash. _'What's going on here?'_ Markarov wondered. _'A moment ago, he was going to kill both Natsu and I, now he seem's like he is in suffering.'_ Zancrow's head was raised enough that Markarov could see two runes on his forehead that read "Personality Seal" and "Loyalty: Grimoire Heart".

"Don't tell me that's what I think it is!" Markarov said in shock, _'Bad enough that Master Precht is the leader of the strongest Dark Guild, but now he has stolen this young mans free will from him with a loyalty rune and, if I'm correct, sealed away his true personality with a false one that Natsu and I witnessed.'_

'_But what does that mean? Is he still an enemy?' _ Markarov wondered as he watched the ripples in Zancrow eyes disappear.

"Gah!" the man known as Zancrow huffed and breathed deeply as sweat dripped from every pour in his body. His hands hit the ground as he panted. After taking several breaths, he looked at his hands.

"I...can still hear it." He said to himself as he clenched his fists, hearing scream's of his victims in his head as he closed his eyes. Well, he supposed they were not technically his victims, since it was Zancrow that did that and not him, but it was still his body that ended those hundreds of lives.

And then, he remembered how he ended up like this in the first place.

_**Flashback**_

_The man that would become Zancrow groaned as he returned to consciousness, and felt himself being bound to a wall, looking up his eye widened seeing the magic restraining chains bind him as Hades was in front of him, along with 4 other mages in cloaks behind him._

"_Mater Hades," Zancrow said, his ripple-less eyes that he previously had, "What are you doing? What's going on?" The last thing he remembered was that he had mastering the basics of his 3__rd__ Lost Magic, which was the 6__th__ magic he had learned, despite being only 16 years old. Then something hit him in the back of the head and he was knocked out._

"_Why, my young Naruto Uzumaki." Hades said as he referred to Zancrow by his true name. Or rather, his original name. "You're a smart lad. Surely you can figure out what's going on for yourself."_

"_Why?" Naruto asked as he hung his head low for a moment before throwing it back up and shouting at Hades, "Why are you betraying me? I've done everything you've ever asked since you found me and took me in!"_

_Years ago, Naruto had come to this universe by complete accident. It was during the battle with Sasuke that their attacks collided and ripped a hole in the dimensions. Only Naruto managed to survive moving through the dimensions, and that was because the Kyuubi had worked overtime in an attempt to save him. The Kyuubi and his chakra had been lost in the dimensional rift and as a result, Naruto lost his whisker marks. Naruto's eyes turned crimson red though, likely due to his system being flooded by the Kyuubi's chakra at the time of extraction. Naruto ended up in a small town close to where he landed. He settled in the town for a bit, and remembered this cute girl who saved the town from a demon, a girl named Mirajane. They had been friends and he tried to help her and protect her from the villagers but she didn't stay and left with her siblings to escape the prejudice. Naruto ended up leaving as well, though he gone another route for them ostracizing his first friend he had made in this new world. In this new world, he had learned __**Flame God Slayer Magic**__ from the tome that was hidden with the village catacombs and in his anger at losing his first friend, he used his new magic to burn the village to ash, killing many of the civilians._

_Hades had found him like that and took him in. Naruto repayed that kindness by doing missions for him and learned 5 other magics, two of them being other Lost Magics themselves._

"_My boy, it's true that you have done much for me and my Guild. But lets be honest. You were planning to leave to find the girl from your village. Your friend." Hades said as Hades and Naruto knew who the girl was. Mirajane Strauss. The newest S-class Mage of Fairytail, Hades old guild. Nobody really knew this but Hades real name was Precht Gaelbolg, and he had been the 2__nd__ Guild Master of Fairy Tail before handing it off to the current master almost 45 years ago._

_Any who, Hades was aware of the fact that while the friendship between Naruto and Mirajane had been shortlived, Naruto's desire to see her and be around her was all consuming and would not be stopped, not even by him. It was only a matter of time before he left of his own free will when Hades was not expecting it. He would normally destroy those with such insolence but Naruto was a special case due to his ability to master so many magics at a young age, 3 of them being Lost Magics. He did not want to give up such a valuable asset when he could still make use of him._

"_So what if I do? Mirajane is the only friend I ever had. I miss her terribly and I would have followed after her as a kid had you not found me. I owe for giving me a home the last few years old man, but other than that, I owe you nothing. Let me go," Naruto demanded._

"_Normally I would kill anyone else for such insolence, but you are a special case. You still are useful to me. And be useful, you will." Hades said as he prepared his ritual. Naruto looked at the four men with cloaks on and then he noticed four Lacrima which were connected to his chains…_

"_You-You're gonna steal my power and give it to them?" Naruto realized before he started struggling. "No, I won't let you steal all my hard work and give it someone unworthy, you bastard!"_

"_It's too late to stop the ritual my boy." Hades stated as red lightning arc into Naruto skin and he shouted in pain as lines of magic were ripped from his body, filling the lacrima. One lacrima became dark green. Another become purple. The third became black and purple and the final one became red with a kanji on it._

"_It is done. His powers are now available for you all to take." Hades said as the mages behind him took off their cloaks, revealing them to be Azuma, Bluenote Stinger, Rustyrose and Yomazu._

"_I noticed, Master Hades, that none of these Lacrima seem to hold his divine Flames," Rusyrose said, referring to his Godslayer magic._

"_That is the magic he is most attuned with.I couldn't rip that out of him, even if I wanted to. And I still have intentions of keeping him in my service. He still is a useful pawn, after all," Hades said._

"_He won't be very cooperative after this, Master," Azuma said as he picked one of the Lacrima out for himself, while noticing Naruto's drained yet angry expression._

"_That's why I'm going to seal his true personality and replace it with one that is loyal to the guild." Hades said as Naruto lost his consciousness again, having his true personality sealed away and replaced with Zancrows._

**_Flashback End_**

Naruto had been aware of the crimes Hades made Zancrow commit. He had been aware of everything the fake personality did while Naruto was unable to control his own body. A cruel punishment by Hades, likely to punish him for trying to leave. But it didn't matter now. He was back in control of his body. He was free.

"I'M FREEEEEEEEEE!" Roared Naruto to the heavens as torrents of black fire shot out of the ground him for a few moments. Standing up, Naruto reigned in his powers but still possessed his dark smile at finally being freed from that damned crazed counterpart Hades had trapped him in for the last few years. _'I'm going to enjoy tearing those fuckers apart for stealing my powers from me and keeping me from Mira all these years.' _Naruto thought.

"But first," Naruto said as he turned to the two downed Fairy Tail Mages. He walked closer to Natsu and flipped him over, surveying the damage the fake him had down to the Fairy Tail Mage. "I'm sorry," Naruto said with remorse as he closed his eyes and was relieved when he found Natsu was still alive, though that last attack Naruto had used had shattered Natsu's spine. He would need to act quickly to save him. "I never wanted to hurt any of Mira's friends. I'm gonna make this right."

Naruto clasped his hands together and black flames appeared them and Markarov looked on, helpless to do anything. "O, God of the Morning Sun, I pray to thee. Deliver salvation upon this poor broken soul. **Flame God's Blessing of Apollo,"** Naruto incanted as Natsu became covered by Naruto's flames. These were not the typical destructive flames he uses in combat. Zancrow, the crazy fake personality that he was, had been telling the truth when he told Natsu about the number of gods the Flame Godslayer tome he had found had knowledge from. He was also telling the truth when he had told Natsu that he could do more with his flames than simply burn shit.

Apollo was a God of the Sun, so he was associated with Fire, but was also the god of Healing, and as such, Naruto could use his flames to heal major damage, as he was doing with Natsu right now. Within 10 minutes, Natsu's spine was good as new and his other injuries he had sustained from battling Naruto's fake personality were fixed as well, though Natsu would not wake for some time.

Naruto got up and walked over to Makarov, kneeling beside him, once again casting **Flame God's Blessing of Apollo. **The divine flames Markarov entire form as Naruto slowly saved him from.

"Not to…sound ungrateful, but I am curious why you are saving me and my child," Markarov asked Naruto.

"Can it, ya old fool," Naruto snapped back, "You're still bleeding out from that wound Hades gave you. That Wendy chick won't be along for a while yet, so unless you wanna die from blood loss, shut up and let me fix you!"

"_Sheesh, it was just a question,"_ Makarov thought as he saw the hole in his stomach slowly close, life returning to the old man.

Naruto stayed quite for several moments before he started talking, "I don't know if you know this. But Mirajane and her siblings…they used to live in my village." Naruto said , shocking Makarov as he now knew who this man was. Mirajane and her siblings had spoken of him when they first came to the guild. "She was my first friend. I cared for her and her siblings, though I was closer to Mira, because I felt a kinship with her. See, I too, know the pain of being treated like a demon for something that isn't your fault. I wasn't enough for her though, and she left because of her prejudice. In my sorrow at losing the only friends I had, I made that village pay." Makarov didn't need to be a genius to know what that meant.

"Hades found me after that. He brought me into his dark guild but I never really wanted to join them. I only did because I had nowhere else to go and I needed to a place to stay while I learned to control my new powers. 3 years after that, I had gotten much stronger and found out Mira had become an S-Class mage for Fairy Tail. Realizing where my friend and her siblings had gone and that they were alive, I made plans to leave and join her at Fairy Tail. But Hades figured me out and stopped me."

Naruto gritted his teeth as he continued, "He didn't just seal away my true personality with that fake one you saw earlier, he stole my powers and gave them to some of the other members of his guild! He made me a passenger in my own body, forced to watch helplessly as my fake self killed hundreds of innocent people with my powers! And now my powers are being used against Mira's guild, against the guild I had wanted to…" Naruto stopped himself before he started crying at his own helplessness.

"The point is, I never wanted to hurt your guild. If I did, Mira would be sad. I saw enough of that when we were kids. I never want to see her sad again." Naruto said as he finished healing Makarov's wounds. "I've gotten you out the danger zone and fixed the damage, but you shouldn't move too much. The Sky Dragon Slayer should be along soon to finish fixing you up."

Naruto made to leave but Makarov still had enough strength to ask him something, "Young man, I must ask, what will you do, now that you are free from Hades control?"

"Hades stole my powers and 3 years of life from me. First, I'm gonna get my powers back. Then I'm gonna hunt down Hades and kill him. After that, I don't really know." Naruto walked away after that. Makarov fell into a blissful sleep but not before promising himself that he would help that young man find his way again if they survived this encounter with Grimoire Heart. Perhaps he'd offer him to join Fairy Tail. It's not like Fairy Tail didn't have their own reformed mages in their guild. Juvia and Gajeel were part of Phantom Lord once and that guild was about as close to a Dark Guild as you could get while still being legal. Now those two were proud Fairy Tail Wizards. Of course, whether or not he would get to offer that option to Naruto depended on whether they could survive Grimoire Hearts assault. But something told him it was all gonna work out in the end.

**Chapter end**


	2. The Reckoning

**Master of the Divine Fire**

**Chapter 2 - The Reckoning**

**Somewhere on Tenrou Island**

"Come on, Yomazu. Let's go-peron," said a humanoid chicken by the name of Kawazu. This was one of two members of Grimoire Heart's B-team. They were skilled mages, about Low A-rank individually.

"Shut up, Kawazu. I'm still nursing a headache from that red headed bitch, Erza Scarlet." Said Yomazu, who was basically a humanoid goat in Samurai armor.

"Suck it up. We gotta find the Fairies camp. We can get some pay back on their wounded-peron." Kawazu pointed out.

"You have a point there, partner. They probably have some members that were wounded from fighting our guild. We can get our pay back on that Iron Dragon slayer who ate my sword and the blue haired bitch!" Yomazu said when suddenly they were cut off by something landing in front of them, kicking up a cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared, they saw that it was Naruto thought they still knew him as Zancrow. "Z-Zancrow!? What are you doing here?" Yomazu asked.

"Y-Yeah, we weren't expecting to see you, bwack bwack bwack." Kawazu added fearfully. Both of them feared Zancrow for the same reason most low ranks of Grimoire Heart did, Zancrow killed anyone that he thought was weak and bringing shame to the guilds name. Yomazu feared him for that, plus he was always afraid that one day Zancrow, or Naruto would remember his true self. Which none of the others present that day wanted. Yomazu trusted Master Hades' abilities but the thought still terrified him.

"I've been running around looking for more Fairies to roast! I just finished off their master and that lowly dragon hunter! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto said as he used Zancrow's crazed personality to lull the two into a false sense of security. While it was true he had been running around, he had actually been killing off all the low rank mages of Grimoire Heart. Those low-life's deserved nothing but death.

"You-you killed their guild master!? Amazing!" Kawazu applauded.

"Well, I only finished him off, it was Master Hades who took him down. But still, the thought of killing more Fairies makes my skin tingle with excitement! HAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto said as he kept up the act.

"Now, follow me," Naruto said, "I know where their camp is where they are keeping their wounded! Let's go roast these Fairies for daring to mess with Grimoire Heart! HAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto hated keeping up the act but he needed to make this easier on himself. The two followed behind him as they ran for several minutes.

Kawazu after several minutes, looked at Naruto's back and noticed something odd. "Hey Zancrow, what happened to your guild mark?" Kawazu asked. Naruto stopped running and the two dark mages behind him stopped running as well, afraid the bird had said something wrong.

"It got burned off," Naruto said has he turned on his heel suddenly, firing a blast of black flames at Kawazu, "Along with any ties to this fucking Guild!" Kawazu couldn't react as he was hit with the black flames. They burned off the chickens feathers and cooked his insides. The screams of pain coming from the chicken died quickly as his burning corpse fell backwards hitting the ground.

Yomazu looked at his burning partner from his position on the ground in horror. He had sensed the danger coming and dodged at the last second, so he managed to avoid getting instantly deep-fried. Still, he looked in fear at Naruto with great fear in his eyes. "Zancrow, what are you doing!?"

"That's not my name! My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto said making Yomazu go still with terror and metaphorically shit his pants.

'_Shit! He remembers! Master Hades seal has failed!'_ Yomazu thought with terror.

"And I want my powers back! You stole my magic from me and now I'm taking it back." Naruto said with a determined look.

"Well, you're not getting it back! The magic's mine now!"Yomazu said with renewed bravery as he got to his feet. He waved his fingers and wrote a kanji in the air. "**Pierce!"** Yomazu wrote the Kanji for it in the air and a beam fired at Naruto, aiming to pierce his heart. Naruto was not about to risk getting injured, so he dodged it.

"And that's not all! **Slice!"** Yomazu said as he wrote the Kanji for the word and swiped his arm, creating an airy slash that followed the trajectory of his hand. Naruto ducked under the slice that would have taken his head right off.

"You stupid goat! **Flame God's Bellow!"** Naruto shouted as he unleashed his breath attack at the humanoid goat, releasing a massive fireball at him.

"**Wall!"** Yomazu shouted as he wrote the Kanji for it, creating a strong defensive wall that blocked Naruto's breath attack.

That was all the distraction Naruto needed though, as Naruto appeared right behind the goat, Yomazu's eye's widening in horror. "You're wide open, dumb ass! **Flame God's Hephaestus Hammer**!" Zancrow shouted as black divine flames gathered in both of his hands. He clasped both of his hands together in a tight double hammer fist and swung them down onto Yomazu head, both smashing him into the ground and creating a destructive circular wave of black fire around them, kicking up a tower of dust and dirt. The dust cleared quickly and Naruto saw the giant hole in the goat's skull, his head cracked open like and egg, brain's, bone and blood spilling out.

"Can't believe that stupid goat actually thought he had a chance against me." Naruto thought to himself as he plunged his hand into the body and ripped out the red lacrima with the kanji on it. Naruto then burned the lacrima and ripped it open, the magic contained in the lacrima exploding outward before rushing back to the body of it's true owner. Once this stopped, Naruto took a deep breath and was pleasantly surprised at the increase in his powers.

"Good, that's one down, 3 to go." Naruto thought as he looked to the direction of the Fairy Tail camp for the wounded. He sensed that Kain Hikaru and Rustyrose were traveling towards the same destination. He needed to get there before those two killed Mira, as that was likely what they were up to.

**Later**

**Fairy Tail Camp**

"The 7 Kin of Purgatory have come calling. My name is Rustyrose. I spy a feast of dreams waiting to be devoured." Rustyrose said in his usual dramatic way.

"We need to protect our friends." Levy said.

"There's no way I'm letting one of those creeps lay a finger on my big sister." Lisanna agreed.

"I can't maintain my Battle-form for very long. We'll need to end this quickly." Pantherlily said as they prepared for a fight.

"2 young ladies and a cat guarding the infirmary. Oh dear, and here I was hoping to be involved in a more ethic battle." Rustyrose complained dramatically. "Oh well, if this is the hand fate has dealt, then I shall play it unencumbered by mercy."

"I don't understand it. How can you people prey on the defenseless!?" Levy demanded. "Did you get to be the strongest Dark Guild by preying on the weak?"

"It had to be done. Those poor souls would never survive the Grand Magic World." Rustyrose explained, " So we are simply helping nature run it's course by speeding along the inevitable."

"You'll never create an ideal world by killing everyone that you think doesn't deserve it!" Pantherlily said angrily.

"That's exactly what the king in Edolas was trying to do and it didn't work out for him." Lisanna mentioned.

"Then you should use your righteous conviction to try and stop me." Rustyrose said as he prepared to attack. "For the most effective weapon against darkness is the light you claim to wield."

Calling forth his **Jet Black Sword**, Rustyrose slashed it forward in a frenzy, causing Lisanna, Levy and Pantherlily to be knocked crudely to the ground. Looking up at the assailant with dread, before they could be attacked again, Rustyrose was sent soaring from the side until he coarsely collided with surrounding trees, bushes, and the ground. Unable to conceal their shocked expressions, they strained to see who it was that had sent their foe flying. From his place amidst the dirt, Rustyrose glanced up and glowered, "Who dares silence my symphony!?"

"Up here, dumbass!" came a voice Pantherlily dreaded to hear. Everyone looked up to see Naruto, hovering above them as jet's of concentrated black flame appeared under his feet.

"Oh no! It's him!" Pantherlily said in worry from his position.

"Who is he?" Levy asked.

"His name is Zancrow. He's one of the 7 kin, like the other guy, and earlier he beat Natsu." Pantherlily informed the girls.

"What!? But how?" Lisanna asked.

"Apparently, he's a Flame God Slayer. I don't pretend to know what that means but he used flames that Natsu couldn't eat. He beat Natsu without getting a scratch on him." Pantherlily said.

Lisanna was reminded of the cute boy who had been Mira's friend when they still lived in that village. Naruto had learned Flame God Slayer Magic while trying to protect Mira and her siblings from the village. Lisanna wondered what happened to him as she looked at the hovering man before her.

"Zancrow, why are you interrupting my battle?" Rustyrose questioned as he watched Naruto glare at him.

"You have something that belongs to me, thief." Naruto said in a calm manner. Rustyrose narrowed his eyes for a moment before they widened and he smirked.

"I see, so Master Hades seal has failed then. The shackles of the crazed Zancrow bind you no longer, Naruto Uzumaki," Rustyrose as he adjusted his glasses. Lisanna gasped when she heard Naruto's name uttered

"That's right you overly dramatic cunt. Now give me back my magic that you stole from me!" Naruto shouted as he flew at Rustyrose, his right hand covered in dense black flames. "**Flame Gods Righteous Fist!"**

"In my left hand is a **Golden Shield** through which no attack shall ever pass!" Rustyrose said quickly as he used the Arc of Embodiment to create a golden kite shield to block Naruto's attack. While the shield stopped the fist from hitting Rustyrose's face, the force behind the blow sent Rustyrose flying.

Naruto flew up into the air before killing the jets on his feet and falling towards Rustrose, black flames gathered on his right leg. **"Flame Gods Heavenly Axe!"** Naruto spun in the air so that his falling Axe Kick would fall dead center upon Rustyrose's head and split his skull open like a melon with a single blow.

"On my feet appear **Pegasus Wings,"** Rustyrose said as wings appeared on his feet and he flew into the air, narrowly dodging the death blow. The impact of Naruto's attack shattered the ground that he impacted, creating a large crater.

"You cannot defeat my rich imagination, Naruto. It is a wellspring of infinite power." Rustyrose boasted as Naruto before he summoned one of his creations. "Come forth my **Sacred Guardian Beast: Belfast the Hurricane.** May your mighty gusts sing through his bones." With that, a giant wyvern-like creature appeared out of thin air, shocking the 3 Fairy Tail mages, along with Freed and Bickslow, who just arrived. Unbelievable in the eyes of Pantherlily, he could not imagine how anyone would be able to defeat a guy that can bring imagination to life.

Standing to the side, but making their presence known, approached Freed and Bixlow. Levy beamed with joy at this sight and cried, "Freed! Bixlow!"

"What are you two doing here?" Pantherlily asked, astounded that the two hadn't already left the island as they claimed they would.

Freed answered Pantherlily's inquiry. "We saw the signal flare, and so we returned here along with Gildarts. Now, what is going on?"

"That guy with the glasses showed up and attacked us but then the blonde showed up and they started fighting each other. They're both from the 7 kin." Pantherlily said, while Lisanna looked at Naruto as he walked out of the smoke, and saw his face. That confirmed it for her as she gasped. His hair might be longer but she could still recognize the face of the sweet boy that was so kind to her sister and her and Elfman.

"I'll make quick work of that freak of yours," Naruto said as he summoned a kanji in front of him, shocking Levy as the memory of Yomazu and Kawazu and what they did to Gajeel and her hadn't been forgotten yet, "**Shatter!"** The Kanji appeared on Belfast and the monster shattered into tiny pieces.

Witnessing the annihilation of his beloved creation, Rustyrose was left awestruck, stuttering, "Th- that is I- im- impossible..." Not allowing Rustyrose to collect himself, Naruto and pummeled him in the face several times, breaking Rusty's glasses before blasting him in the face with another **Flame Gods Righteous Fist,** breaking Rusty's jaw and sending him flying into a nearby stone wall.

"**Flame God's Bellow!" **Naruto called as he unleashed a massive fireball of black flames upon the fallen Rustyrose, unleashing a black inferno upon the drama club reject. The black flames cleared and Rustyrose emerged from the flames with his **Golden Shield **up, thought his upper body was now exposed and badly burned. Of course, Naruto had toned down the killing power of his attacks since he wanted Rustyrose's body intact so he could extract the lacrima containing his magic from him.

As Rustyrose rose to his feet, Lisanna and Pantherlily were only able to watch in silence, being amazed to the point of being speechless. During the fight, Evergreen had awoken and watched the battle.

Smugness was easily perceived by his smile as Naruto coldly sneered down at him, "Get up. I was hoping for at least a decent warmup for Azuma and Bluenote."

Sensing no mercy from his adversary, Rustyrose felt a disconcerting sensation take hold of his heart. He wondered, "Could this feeling in my heart be… fear?"

Taking heed to Naruto's proposition, Rustyrose gradually pushed himself up back upon his feet. While getting up, he thought, '_Heh, maybe this fear that I'm feeling isn't that bad.'_ Looking up once again at his adversary, Rustyrose remade his glasses while having a suspiciously pleased expression. Pleased to the point to where he was almost euphoric, Rustyrose announced aloud, arms spread out wide, "Fear just gives more inspiration for my imagination! **Ghosts of Brittia**!"

A purple mass of constantly moving faces swallowed Naruto and Rustyrose. Cackling and wailing could be heard from every direction. These ghosts wrapped their immaterial selves around the body of Naruto, leaving him fast in place, despite his struggles to get free with his physical strength from the hindering tangles. Taking advantage of his immobility, Rustyrose fell back again upon his **Jet Black Sword** as his preferred method of attack. Charging forward, Rustyrose planned to fully utilize his upper hand.

"Raahh!" Naruto shouted as he unleashed an inferno from his body stopping Rustyrose from attacking any further. His black flames burned the Ghosts to ash and he was able to move again.

Freed and Bixlow collapsed at that moment as if they were exhausted, even though they possessed great power and vitality less than a minute before. Within both their bodies, Freed and Bixlow could feel their magic draining; taking what seemed to be life force with it. From what the two could tell, it wasn't just them that were affected, but also those nearby. Levy, Lisanna and Pantherlily panted upon the ground, and those who were injured seemed to be fraught in their sleep as the strain pressed even more harshly upon their bodies.

'_What could have possibly caused this?'_ Freed thought weakly, inhaling deep yet short breaths, his vision becoming unfocused.

'_Shit, Azuma started that already?'_ Naruto thought with worry. Now that he had taken out the Tenrou tree, the Fairy Tail guild would lose their divine protection as well as enhanced magic power. The Fairy Tail wizards would feel like they were losing their magic power for and while they would readjust to their normal magic power, that wouldn't matter if they were in a life or death battle.

"I need to finish this quickly." Naruto said to himself as Rustyrose summoned his **Sacred Guardian Beast: Belcus the Thunderclap. **Naruto raised his hands and and slammed then into the ground. "**Flame Gods Rushing Phlegethon!"** Naruto unleashing a tsunami-like sea of black fire that surged forward from where his hands hit the ground, consuming Rustyrose creation and managing to snag Rusty's legs as he was not able to get his **Pegasus wings **back out in time. Everything the tsunami of fire touched was reduced to ash.

Before Rustyroses's entire body was consumed, Naruto canceled the spell and flew toward him with his jets and caught Rustyrose by the throat. "Curse you, Uzumaki! You are a blight upon the 7 kin!" Rustyrose shouted, even though both his legs had been burned off.

"I don't give a damn." Naruto retorted as he plunged his other hand into Rusty's body and ripped out the lacrima. Rusty's scream at having it forcibly extracted from his body were shortlived as the shock of it killed him. Naruto repeated the process he did with Yomazu, resulting a massive increase in power. He was now twice as strong now.

"Naru-to," Lisanna struggled to say from her position on the ground thanks to the sudden loss of her magic.

"Been a long time, Lisanna-chan," Naruto said with a smile, shocking her as he remembered her. "I had heard you had died several years ago. I'm happy to see that is not the case."

"I never really died, Naruto-nii-san. It's kind of a long story." Lisanna admitted before yelping in surprise when he picked her up bridal style.

"Well, after this thing with Grimoire Heart is all over, you can tell me all about it." Naruto grinned, while Lisanna turned away in embarrassment and so he couldn't see her blush from how handsome he had gotten. In fact, copies of him picked up the fallen Fairy Tail mages and brought them under the infirmary tent before he cast **Flame God's Blessing of Apollo** on the Fairy Tail mages present.

'_Amazing, it feels like my wounds are vanishing, like they never happened! Naruto-nii-san is so skilled!' _Lisanna thought with awe.

'_His healing ability far exceeds Wendy-chans!'_ Levy thought.

'_Our Magic power…'_ Bickslow thought.

'…_Is returning!' _ Freed thought, unknowingly finishing Bickslow's thought.

'_What is up with this guy?'_ Lily thought as his wounds were healed, '_He nearly killed me and the others before and now he's helping?'_

Naruto sat on his knees next to Mirajane, who was healing like the others, lightly stroking her cheek. Despite being unconscious, she unconsciously leaned into his hand. Naruto smiled down at her while thinking, '_She's grown into an amazing woman.'_ He thought, as he remembered what he had read about her and how she changed from her more punkish self.

"She missed you, you know," Lisanna told him, causing him to look at her with a curious look. "We all did. Naruto-kun, why didn't you come with us?"

"That's…not something I want to get into right now." Naruto admitted. "I promise I will tell you all, but I would rather tell everyone at once, okay?" Lisanna could do little but nod.

"Lisanna, before I go, tell me something." Naruto said with a low and dangerous tone. "Who did this? Who hurt you? Who hurt my Mira?"

Lisanna noted how he said 'his Mira', like his feelings were stronger than friendship, or maybe they had evolved into something else over the years. She knew her sister feelings for him had developed into an unfulfilled longing and that was the reason Mira never went out with anyone. Mira might have been able to get over Naruto before Lisanna's 'death', but that sent her even more into romantic isolation. "I didn't catch his name, but he used the tree's as weapons and could make them explode. He trapped me and forced Mira-nee-san to fight if she didn't want me to explode." Lisanna told him.

"Azuma," Naruto growled in anger as he then stood up. Naruto had been planning to make Azuma's death a quick one, but now he was gonna drag it out and make him suffer before he dies.

"I should probably fortify the camp before I leave." Naruto said. as he concentrated his magic power and unleashed another creation with his Arc of Embodiemnt. "**Great Wall of Albion!"** A ring of bright light shined around the camp before it formed itself into a 40 foot tall, 20 foot thick wall of steel, complete with equally thick steel gates and guard towers. Images of fairies ready for battle covered the walls entirety and fairy statutes lined the ramparts. The five Fairy Tail Wizards were in complete shock at his magnificent spell, while it dawned on everyone that he was indeed on their side.

"I've healed all your wounds and given you some of my magic energy so you can defend yourselves. I'll be back once Grimoire Heart is taken down." Naruto said as he activated his flame jet's and flew into the sky to track down Azuma. Naruto was not worried about Kain finding the place as Naruto had already killed him on the way here.

**With Azuma and Erza**

"Titania, you have my word that _if_ you are able to beat me, then I will return the tree back to its original state. This will also revive your friends." Azuma deliberately put emphasis on the word if. Whether it was the challenge or the mention of her comrades that caused Erza to tighten her grip on the hilt of her sword, he did not care. As long as it had the desired effect: motivation for Erza Scarlet to fight earnestly while not holding anything back.

With these being the requirements that Erza deemed necessary, there was only one specific selection of armor and weapon that could fulfill her needs. Activating her **Requip Magic**, a white glow enveloped Erza and even before it fully faded, crimson color could be seen through it. With the dying glow, it was revealed that Erza wore nothing but baggy red pants, which Azuma immediately assumed to be the crimson he saw, and bandages that bound her chest. There was nothing to be sensed of the pants, nothing magic at all. In her hand Erza held a katana that seemed to have no blemish. Rather than it being just well cared for, it seemed that it was rarely used. With a final whip of her ponytail as the last of her re-equipment ended, Erza opened her eyes. With nothing evident but conviction, she stated, "I have no need for armor, only my sword."

That said, Erza charged forward in a rush. All her power, her strength, she collected into her sword, **Demon Blade Crimson Sakura**. This vow, one she wished to print into her heart and his, Erza swore, "I cannot lose for my guild's sake."

With a smile, Azuma urged, "Come!" When within a close enough range, she commenced her strike. However, branches weaved around her, trapping her in place. In those conditions Erza could not do anything but strain herself in useless struggle to bring her arms down and her sword along with them.

Azuma decided to take advantage of how Erza bore armor with no feature that assisted in giving protection of any kind. Casting his next spell as if it were a battle cry, Azuma declared, **"Terra Clamare!" **The titanic explosion with a screaming face on it consumed Erza.

Then, all of sudden, they heard a slurping sound and watched as the fiery explosion was sucked away for several moments, devoured with a burp. Azuma was annoyed as he didn't like what this meant while Erza briefly imagined it was Natsu, only to be somewhat disappointed.

"Ah, nothing like a midday meal in the middle of the hunt," Naruto said as he patted his belly. Consuming that blast had not just restored all the magic he had used up today, and between his 3 majors battles and hunting down all the pests of Grimoire Heart, he had used up alot. He was now overflowing with magic energy.

"Zancrow, don't get in my way!" Azuma said in annoyance as Zancrow prevented him from finishing off his opponent. Then Azuma say something in Zancrow's eyes. Zancrow's normal expression in his eyes was crazed, even when he appeared to be calm. But this look was brimming with cold fury, waiting to erupt, boil over and explode to consume anyone dumb enough to be close by. Then, there was the obvious changes, like the fact that his magic energy way higher than it was supposed to be.

"Master Hades seal on you failed, didn't it? Naruto Uzumaki," Azuma said, his body tensing as he prepared for another fight. Erza, meanwhile, wondered what was happening.

"Damn right it did! Now lets go!" Naruto said as he unleashed **Flame God's Bellow **At Azuma. The ensuing explosion caught some of the branches that held Erza in place, allowing her to break free. Azuma skidded back along a giant branch, feeling the burns on his skin. He was a severe disadvantage, as during his fight with Mira and Erza, he was down to 40% percent.

Erza landed safely on one of the tree branches, while she watched the fight. '_What's going on? Aren't they both members of the 7 kin of Purgatory? Why are they fighting each other?'_ Realizing something bigger must be going on, she decided to get a closer look.

"Try this. **Pierce!"** He shouted as a kanji appeared in the air and a beam shot towards Azuma, who jumped back to avoid it. Naruto fired several more of beams from the Kanji in rapid succession, with Azuma dodging in rapid succession to avoid being turned into a pincushion.

"Behind ya!" Azuma's eyes widened as he turned to see Naruto behind him. Acting quickly, Azuma unleashed a **Bleve**, attack blasting Naruto before the small fireworks the initial move left behind exploded, dealing further damage. Azuma received no warning, except for the shout of **"Flame God's Righteous Fist!"** The black flame covered fist smashed into Azuma's face, sending him flying from the branch he was on and into another tree.

Azuma felt the pain of the magic enhanced punch and he was shaking with anticipation. Naruto was much stronger than he had ever been. Azuma lived for combat and fighting worthy opponents. Earlier that day, he fought Mira and he was in middle of fighting Titania Erza. But that punch just now told Azuma that Naruto was strongest he had ever faced. The thought made him tingle with excitement.

Ignoring the burn on his face left by Naruto attack, Azuma called out his own attack, "**Tree Fist!"** Azuma summons a massive clenched fist from a tree that rushed at Naruto.

"I never liked that overly dramatic cunt Rustyrose, but since I'm in good spirits," Naruto said with a shit-eating smirk as his hand glowed with magic, surprising Azuma. "In my right hand is a blade forged in the darkest abyss of the Underworld. **Shadow Scythe!"** Naruto's entire right forearm and hand were replaced with a black, wicked looking scythe, with shadows coming off of it. Naruto sliced through the tree fist and jumped toward Azuma. Azuma summoned roots to try to capture Naruto and hold him, but Naruto managed to dodged most of these. One of them was able to grab Naruto's scythe, and Azuma thought he could then capture Naruto, but the scythe stopped being solid at that brief moment, passing right through the root. Naruto was able to land infront of Azuma and swung his scythe arm at him. Azuma summoned several thick roots to block the attack and Naruto managed to cut through all but one. With the final root, Naruto turned his scythe intangible again and sliced at his adversary unencumbered, cutting Azuma above the eye, who jumped back at the last second to avoid being decapitated.

'_Dang. It was a shallow cut.' _Naruto thought his hand went back to normal. '_Still, even shallow cuts above the eye like that bleed profusely. He won't be able to keep fighting for much longer.'_

'_What magic is that?'_ Erza wondered as she marveled at Naruto magic. She was still contemplating whether to get involved or not.

"I see," Azuma said as he wiped the blood from his face, "You've already hunted down Yomazu and Rustyrose."

"And Kawazu, Kain, and all the low-ranked members of Grimoire heart. You know how this goes." Naruto said with some glee at getting his long awaited revenge on Grimoire Heart.

"And so you plan to fight Bluenote before going after Master Hades. That is, assuming you can beat me." Azuma said with grin.

"I most definitely will beat you. There is no scenario where you walk away from this fight alive. My victory is assured." Naruto said, completely assured of his own victory.

"Getting a little cocky, aren't you Naruto? You may be stronger now, but I control all the magic of Tenrou Island." Azuma said, as that was true since he felled the tree.

"That doesn't mean shit. I know my magics better than any of you ever will. Half of your attacks can't hurt me and only serve as a meal, while the other half isn't strong enough to fell me. You can't beat me with my own magic. Now, let's bring out an old friend!" Naruto said as he clapped his hands together, concentrating his magic power and using it to create another construct.

But this one was not like the other. "Come forth, **Green Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!**" Naruto called, utilizing what could some scholars would consider the greatest strength of Arc of Embodiment. A flash of light appeared and Rock Lee appeared, just as Naruto knew him.

'_Who is that? How did the blonde bring him here? Is he a summoner of some kind?' _Erza wondered before she deadpanned at Lee's appearance, '_And what is up with that awful green suit?'_

Azuma eyed Rock Lee, not caring about appearances. "So, now you're not going to fight me yourself?" Azuma asked Naruto, displeased with this, as he was starting to actually have fun.

"Trust me, Lee's plenty strong for dealing with you." Naruto said before he chuckled and smirked to himself. '_I've been waiting to do this for a long time!'_ "Yes, LEE! Your enemy lies before you! Go forth, and let the POWER OF YOUTH EXPLODE!" Naruto said enthusiastically, mimicking Might Guy.

"Yes, sir!" The construct of Rock Lee said with the same fire in his eyes that the original had. He jumped forward in a burst of speed, disappearing from sight, as Naruto created this version of Lee with his weights off. Lee reappeared on the branch that Azuma was on and landed a solid right hook to Azuma's cheek and sent him flying. As Azuma got up to his feet, he was struck again with a roundhouse kick. He tried to anticipate the next attack and punched toward Lee, but Lee appeared behind Azuma and shouted, **"Leaf Hurricane!"** Azuma was able to block the first strike but he could not stop the second lower kick that blasted him in the gut.

'_How is this possible!? Rusty's creations could never push me this far!'_ Azuma thought in pain.

'_This is perhaps one of the greatest strength's of Arc of Embodiment.'_ Naruto thought as he watched Lee beat the shit out of Azuma. '_Nothing created by the magic is technically alive, but I can make organic creations. The greatest part of this is that I can make exact copies of people I know, complete with personalities and fighting abilities. Of course, there are weakness's to this. It only works well with people who's abilities I knew intimately, like Sasuke or Lee's for example. Using someone I don't know well would make the construct much weaker.'_

"Hey Titania," Naruto said, surprising Erza as she figured they had forgotten she was there. "Get up here. I want to talk to you for a bit." Erza contemplated not listening and staying a distance away from the fight, since Naruto was softening up Azuma for her. But then again, Naruto's creation was currently wiping the floor with the man. Finally she settled on speaking with him and hopped onto the branch he was on.

"Nice to meet you officially, Erza Scarlet. I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto greeted as he extended his hand out for her to shake. She opted not to. "Geez, you're a real buzz kill."

"No offense, but you appear to be one of the Seven Kin. You'll forgive me if I appear hesitant to embrace you in friendship." Erza pointed out.

"I'm merely explaining the situation here. Azuma is marked for death, so you don't need to be here. GO and help your friends." Naruto said before he summoned his **Shadow Scythe** again to block Erza from attacking him with her sword.

"I can't let you do that! I need to be the one ot defeat if he's going to uphold his word and return my friends magic to them!" Erza said with a righteous fury as she could not allow her friends to stay without magic.

"And I need to get my magic back! The magic Azuma uses is one he stole from me! Once I extract the lacrima from him and take my power back, I will return Fairy Tail's magic to them! Now get out of my way!" Naruto shouted as he kicked Erza in the stomach, sending her flying back, hitting a tree in the process.

Erza tried to get up but found she could not. '_I can't move!'_ she thought in worry before she saw a kanji on her stomach.

"**Immobilize,"** Naruto stated. "You won't be able to move so long as that is on you. I'm sorry about doing this, but you left me little choice. If anyone is going to kill the bastard that hurt Mira and Lisanna," Naruto trailed off as he saw Lee about to perform a Primary Lotus on Azuma, "it's going to be me!"

"**Flame God's Heavenly Axe!"** Naruto said as he coated his left leg in black flames before he slammed it into Azuma's back, causing him to spit out blood and smash through several trees. Naruto dispelled his Rock Lee copy and fly towards Azuma at top speed.

Azuma pulled himself up and saw Naruto rushing at him. "**Ramus Sica!"** Azuma said as he used a spell that unleashes a flurry of sharp branch blades that home in on, and attack, the target. Unfortunately for Azuma, his spell didn't work and a split second later, Naruto's head smashed into Azuma's stomach, causeing spit to fly from his mouth. Naruto socked him hard in jaw, and Azuma could feel the his jaw starting to break. Azuma rose to his feet and tried to punch Naruto, but Naruto caught the fist and broke it, before he pulled Azuma's arm out, locking the elbow joint out, and then smashed it between his own elbow and kneeing, breaking Azuma's elbow joint as well, causing him to cry out in pain. Naruto punched Azuma hard in the face, making sure to punch him on the side with his burn mark, before kicking the backside of his head with flame encased foot. Naruto then slammed him back into the tree, creating a crater, before he Spartan-kicked in the chest, causing the Dark Mage to cry out in more pain. While thinking, _'Why I can't I use my magic!?'_

"You're probably wondering where all your power went," Naruto said to him as he gripped him by the throat and pulled him out of the crater, holding him high above his head, " When I kicked you earlier, I put a **Seal** on you with my **Oriental Solid Script.** Basically, I sealed away your magic energy, preventing you from using it. And Now, I'm taking it back." With that, Naruto plunged his hand into Azuma's stomach and ripped out the lacrima, tossing him down and reabsorbing his power. A bright green aura surrounded Naruto as all the trees around them seemed to grow thicker and were more full of life.

"Hahahahahahaha! That's much better! Now, I just need to hunt down Bluenote. I'll let Gildarts soften him up for me." Naruto said as he snapped his fingers and all of the magic energy being kept from the Fairy Tail members returned to them. Gildart's magic would destroy any spell that Bluenote could use, so there was no way he was going to win. While Naruto liked his chances against Bluenote, he needed save his energy for Hades. Especially since he planned to beat Hades at his best. Once Naruto had his full power back, he was sure even if Hades used his **Devil's Eye,** Naruto would still win.

Naruto heard a groan and saw Azuma crawling towards him. "Well," Naruto said as he put kicked Asuma back into the tree, "You're still alive. I have to give you credit. You're a tough one." Naruto snapped his fingers and tree roots wrapped around Azuma's limbs and neck, pulling hi tight against the tree. Another snap of his fingers and the kanji on Erza disappeared, allowing her to move again.

"Hey, Titania," Naruto said, getting her attention, "I just gave your friends their magic back. Now get outta here. They need your help. Azuma is no longer your concern." Erza looked like she might want to object but from what she saw, she knew Azuma was going to die. She also thought he was right, as her friends needed her help, so she turned away and left Azuma to his doom.

"I was going to kill you quickly before, but after I found out what you did to Mira and Lisanna, I decided that I was going to make your death last just a little bit longer. You will not get the satisfaction of a warriors death, but you will instead die like a dog! **Pain!"** Naruto said as a Kanji briefly appeared on Azuma's body.

"Guh!" Azuma grunted, as he felt an intense pain shot through his body. "W-What...the hell...is this?! My whole body...f-feels like i-it's on fire!"

"That Kanji overloads your pain receptors, amplifying the pain you feel." Naruto explained, snapping his fingers. Moments later Azuma out, as pain racked every inch of his body.

"**Terror**!" Advancing towards Azuma, Naruto wrote another kanji across his chest. This time Azuma cried out in horror, as he thrashed around, his head thrashing around with tears in his eyes.

"**Agony**!" When Naruto wrote a new Kanji onto Azuma's chest, the dark-skinned Kin of Purgatory let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"**Pain**!" Naruto slashed his sword across Azuma's chest rewriting the Kanji. "**Pain**!" Again, Naruto slashed Azuma across the chest, a fresh wave of pain arching through the large man's body. "**Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain!**" Naruto chanted, as he unleashed a flurry of Kanji onto Azuma. Howling out in pain, Azuma felt his entire body starting to go numb, his consciousness slowly slipping away.

"Don't go losing consciousness on me!" Naruto said as he grabbed Azuma and flew upwards towards the sky, running Azuma face along the bark of the tree, scratching it up before letting him go, throwing him even high into the air, before flying behind and slamming his elbow into Azuma's back, breaking his lower spine, causing a scream of agony to erupt from his lungs as he fell back to the earth, bouncing off of tree branches, injuring him further until he hit the solid ground of the forest floor.

"Hmph," Naruto voiced as he landed a few feet from Azuma. "Before you die, I want to show you what a true master of **Great Tree Arc** can do. **Great Tree Golem!"** Clapping his hands together, Naruto created a giant statue-like creature made out of wood. The humanoid creature with a thick muscular body and the face of an Oni had an eastern serpentine dragon sticking out of its torso.

The golem picked up Azuma, crushing some more of his ribs as it grasped him, causing Azuma to further cry out in pain. Naruto then opened his palm, the golem doing the same, before raising his other hand, ready to crush Azuma's body to paste between the golem's hands. "Say Goodbye, Azuma."

Azuma's looked up in fear, no longer the man that loved battle. After all, it's not so fun when you can't fight back. "Ah! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" Azuma's scream of terror, amplified by Naruto's **Terror **Kanji, was cut short when Naruto silenced him forever, smashing his open palms together, the golem mimicking his movements and doing the same, smashing Azuma's broken body to red paste.

"Now, for Bluenote," Naruto said as he dispelled the golem and flew up into the air to track down Bluenote.

Then, comical confusion was written on his face when he saw something flying towards the sky. Naruto created a set of binoculars to see who it was and was comically shocked that is was Bluenote. "Holy Shit!" Naruto said in surprise, "It's only been a few minutes since I restored their power. He took him out quick then I thought he would."

"Oh well, I'm hardly one to waste a golden opportunity," Naruto said as he used his Arc of Emodiment to create of one of several swords he created long ago for his **Sword Magic. **"**Tensa Zangetsu!"** Naruto incanted and a sword appeared in his left hand. Tensa Zangetsu's blade was black, the length about that of a daito, with the guard being 4 prongs bent out in the shape of a manji. A short chain was attached to the pommel.

Naruto didn't waste anymore time as he sped towards airborne mage, impaling him in the heart from behind. Naruto didn't given him a chance to respond as he ripped out the lacrima containing his final magic and consumed into, his body emitting a purple aura as he roared, "RAH!". His magic skyrocketed as he was now back to his full strength.

"**Blackhole,"** Naruto incanted as he generated the black and purple orb beneath him and Bluenote. "So long," Naruto said as he dropped Bluenote onto the infinite gravity well, watching with morbid fascination as Bluenote's body was twisted into impossible shapes until it was sucked into the gravity well. Bluenote probably didn't suffer long, since his organs couldn't have survive the way his body was twisted as they were pulled into the orb. Naruto cancelled orb as he remembered he had one last errand to take care of before going after Hades, as he sensed Ultear had been defeated.

**With Meredy**

Meredy had been running from Juvia for some time, who had resorted to crawling after her to stop the pink-haired girl from escaping with the sleeping Zeref. The two had been arugeing when Meredy stopped as Naruto landed in front of them.

"Zancrow!" Meredy said in surprise. Shew figured he was on the other side of the island. She was also unaware of the truth surrounding Naruto and Zancrow.

"Well, well," Naruto said deciding to have fun with it and crush Meredy's dreams. He would go after that weak bitch Ultear, but the Fullbuster kid already beat her. "You do realize the ship is in the opposite direction, yes?"

"No, I didn't," Meredy lied poorly.

"Like I believe that! Everyone in the guild knows you follow Ultear around like a lost little puppy!" Naruto said with in Zancrow-esque fashion.

"No, I don't!" Meredy again lied porrly.

"Oh, shut up!" Naruto said as he blasted all three of them with a fireball from his mouth, knocking all three mages down.

"I never thought Zeref was actually alive. I always figured Hades was just crazy," Naruto said as he looked at Zeref. '_If half the stuff I have heard about him and Acnologia are true…'_ Naruto trailed off as even without that, He needed to get Zeref off the island before he killed any Fairy Tail wizards.

Naruto clapped his hands together, summoning a creature with Arc of Embodiment, **"Dark Gryphon,"** Naruto created a mythical beast as the mythical beast with the body of a lion and the wings and head of a eagle with all black feathers and crimson eys appeared before him. "Take this guy out of here." The 10 foot tall Gryphon obeyed it's master as it picked Zeref up with it's talons and flew off.

"Wait!" Meredy called out to him in pain as she withered on the ground. "Zeref is Ultear's future! ... My future..."

Naruto stared at her with a grin, "Feh, so naive. How long are you going to keep spouting that crap? Ultear just uses you like she does everyone else."

"You're wrong! Ultear promised!" Meredy cried, tears now swelling up in her eyes, "If I can make it to the Grand Magic World, my town can go back to the way it used to be!"

"Che! That place? Why would you want it back after Kain and I redecorated it?" He flashed her a trade-marked grin and revealed, "We were not they only one wrecking the place you know. You're precious Ultear lead the attack. She killed the most people out of all 3 of us!"

Meredy froze with a look of disbelief. Tears now completely fell from her face. "That is... a lie..."

"Believe what you want kid. Hehehehe. Gehehehehe. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" Naruto laughed for one final time as he rubbed salt in the girls physiological wounds before a blast of magic power overwhelmed the two mages and sent them into a deep slumber.

"The Grand Magic World. A world where only mages exist." Naruto hummed as he light enveloped his body and his clothes changed shape. "What a load of nonsense. Even if you fools had defeated Fairy Tail this day, you couldn't overcome the rest of the world. Besides, not all ordinary people are so bad."

Naruto walked away towards his final hit, not noticing that in the distance, Zeref destroyed his creation and landed back on the island.

**Chapter End**

**So, Naruto has gotten his powers back, and only Hades remains. And if you were a little disappointed with Bluenote's death, he had already been taken out of the fight by Gildarts and since Naruto wanted to conserve his energy for Hades, he was never going to give Bluenote a chance to fight back. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- The Grimoire Heart bursts**

"You know, I figured they would wait a little longer." Naruto said to himself as he watched the members of Team Natsu rush up the stairs made of ice that Gray created, so they could confront Hades. Hades was gonna wait for them to come to him. They could have planned their attack better, waited to recover more strength, anything better than rushing in blind. Of course, maybe they thought they were on a timelimit, not wanting the magic council to blow them to pieces with Etherion. '_And give the jackasses on the council now, they'd probably do it. That last council was somewhat corrupt, but they weren't as bad as the current incarnation.'_ Naruto thought with some disdain as he hated the Magic Council. They didn't do a good job of actually governing the guilds, evidenced by the fact that there are so many dark ones still running around.

"Hm, nice moves." Naruto commented as he saw Erza and Gray attack Hades while he blocked Natsu's attack though it did not do anything to Hades. The kids had yet to realize the monster they were fighting was in the realm of the Gods of Ishgar when he went all out, though where he fell was unknown, as he was definitely weaker than God Serena, but stronger Warrod Sequen without his Devil's Eye. And right now, Hades was not taking this seriously.

Naruto then saw the blonde, Lucy Heartfilia, if he remembered correctly, summon Taurus, the Golden Bull. "Not bad." Naruto said, as he was starting to see that though Lucy was mostly better at support, there was a reason she was here with them.

He then saw Wendy Marvell uses a Sky Dragon Slayer Enchantment on Gray and Erza to double their speed and attack power. "That girl could become a real powerhouse if she gains more confidence or learns any real enchantments later in life." Naruto commented while he knew that the Sky Dragon Slayer Enchantments were really basic ones. Enchantment users were incredibly rare but they could some amazing things, from what he had read up on concerning their history and famous users.

He then saw Wendy combine her breath attack with Scorpio's spell, who was summoned by Lucy. "Hmm, a Unison Raid. And it's real purpose is to improve the dragonslayers attack. Nice combo," Naruto commented at Natsu smashed in to Hades.

"But, it's not enough." Naruto commented as true to his word, Hades stepped out of the cloud of dust, more or less uninjured.

Hades began powering up and used his used **Katsu** spell on Wendy, taking out there enchanter. The only reason Naruto didn't try to interefere then was because he knew Lucy had a contract with Horolgium, and such a spell would normally force him to intervene, which sure enough, he did. Naruto still did not understand the full extent of what that spell could do but he did no this: It was an instant-kill spell that obliterated it's target molecule by molecule through some kind of special manipulation, leaving nothing behind, and Hades could only use it about once every month.

After Wendy returned to the fight and Hades explained that he used to be FairyTail's 2nd guildmaster, Natsu lost his temper and tried to take on Hades. "Fool. A combined and coordinated attack was the only way you had a chance against him. He knew that would provoke you, and now you've lost your advantage." Naruto commented as he watched Hades casually demolish the 5 handi-capped wizards. He absentmindedly was glad he redirected those cats earlier by sealing off the corridor that lead to the Grimoire Heart, because they would have eventually reached there. Instead, they were going to the flight control room in the front of the ship

When Naruto saw Hades prepare a **Piercing Bullet** and aim it at Natsu's head, he figured this was when he would have to get involved, but then a flash of lightning happened and Laxus appeared between Natsu and Hades.

Naruto watched the fight and was impressed that Laxus lasted as long as he did against Hades. Though Naruto was wondering why he didn't use his Dragon Slayer abilities. Naruto was aware of his skills, so it was interesting that he didn't use it. Naruto was also Impressed that Natsu was able to combine Laxus's Lightning and his Fire to use a dual-element mode and was more impressed with it's destructive capabilities.

But when they were celebrating, he knew Hades wasn't out yet. That wasn't enough to take him down. Just then though, he noticed the Tenrou tree returning to normal.

"The Tree is back to normal." gasped Wendy, who had just woken up. "How?"

Gray looked at the tree and grinned. "I think I might have an idea."

Everyone looked at him curious, but before anyone could ask any questions, Erza stood up. "We should go back to the camp and let everyone know what happened. We also must inform the Council of our current situation and-"

"How utterly terrifying."

Erza's voice was killed in her throat, cold sweat covering her forehead. Her eyes widened in pure terror, just like everyone else's, as they were all robbed of the ability to breathe.. Erza slowly turned her neck to the right, which came with great difficulty. Before she was forced to drop to her knees she registered Hades raising himself up to a sitting position.

"For the first time in a long time...I felt fear. I was not sure I would get out of that last one in one piece." confessed quietly the elder and stood up, how body starting to release steam. The steam was coming out of his wounds, which were now slowly but surely closing themselves, his burns fading away and his cuts closing themselves. "You managed to give a good thrashing. A truly formidable feat." chuckled Hades in an elderly manner.

"Impossible..." choked out Lucy in despair. "Was it not enough?!" She broke down.

Erza clenched her teeth in fear and frustration. It was over. No one had enough strength to stand up, let alone fight.

"I do not feel hatred nor anger towards you, Dragon Slayer." stated Hades and cracked his neck, a short sigh of relief escaping his lips. "If anything, it is gratitude. I didn't realize dragon Slayers could combine their main element with another compatible one to enter a dual mode. I never expected to learn something new at this old age of mine. I feel more complete as both a person and a mage than ever before."

Natsu scowled and tried to raise himself up- All of his muscles cried out in pain and fatigue, his chest was throbbing and burning, almost as if someone put a melting rock inside his body. Still, he punched the floor and got himself to a kneeling position, his eyes glued to Hades'.

"I've enjoyed this immensely, but I must be getting back to work now. I'll be obliterating you all now. Believe me, you will wish I had done it sooner." Hades said as he reached to take off his eye patch when a fist smashed into his face and knocked him off his feet, but he managed to recover in midair and land on his feet.

_'What just hit me?'_, the old man wondered as he rose to his feet to see a man in white and red robes with a white sash holding them up. A red hat with the kanji for Fire Shadow on it adorned his head.

"So, you've finally decided to enter the fray, Naruto Uzumaki," Hades said as he stood up.

'_Naruto?'_ Erza thought as she thought about the man she met earlier with Azuma. '_It doesn't feel like him. His magic is different. Is this really the same person from almost an hour ago?'_

"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to jump down from that ledge you were skulking around on," Hades said, surprising Naruto as he thought he had hidden himself well, "Yes, I was aware you've been here the entire time. Did you enjoy watching me torment the little dragon slayer that thrashed you that much?"

"Hmph," Naruto said as he tilted his hat towards Hades, "If I wanted to watch the little dragon get a beating, I'd be the one doing it." Naruto threw of his robes and hat to reveal what he was wearing underneath. Underneath the robes of the Hokage, Naruto was wearing a pair of black pants, black shoes, and black belt. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt under a sleeve-less red coat with a black flame pattern around the hem. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with black fingerless gloves. He wore a bright orange form-fitting breast-plate that covers the torso chest, back and shoulders. Over that, he wore a sleeve-less red coat with a black flame pattern around the hem.

Natsu, Wendy, and Erza were finally able to recognize Naruto, but for different reasons. Wendy, poor shy girl she was, was afraid now for her friends, as they were all out of magic energy and the last she had seen Naruto, Zancrow had still been in control. Natsu was still pissed at the Godslayer for beating him earlier and what he had tried to do. Erza recognized him and was for once glad to see Naruto, as she knew he was here to kill Hades.

"Oh no," Wendy muttered, her little body trembling in fear.

"Who the heck?" Gray wondered, as he and Naruto had not met before.

'_It really is him.'_ Erza thought with relief. They might be able to still survive this fight.

"It's you again, you bastard!" Natsu shouted at Naruto's back.

"Natsu, what are you-?" Lucy asked only for Natsu to injerject.

"This asshole attacked me, Wendy, Carla, Happy, and Lily earlier, and almost roasted me and gramps! Before that, he roasted his friends!" Natsu shouted, shocking all the Fairy Tail mages but Wendy, as she already knew this.

"So anyway, Hades," Naruto began, pissing Natsu off since Naruto was ignoring him.

"Hey, don't fucking ignore me!" Natsu shouted, causing Naruto to finally look at him.

"Honestly, forgot you were even here." Naruto said, causing Natsu to deadpan before Natsu got angry again.

"Why you-" He said before Naruto picked him up by his hair, holding him aloft.

"Didn't Markarov ever teach you not to bite the hand that feeds you? After all, it's only because of my, uhm, change of heart, that you don't have a broken spine. That last attack I gave you during our fight shattered your spine. Your lucky I can heal such wounds, otherwise, you would be paralyzed in your legs.

"But, listen," Naruto said, "I already told Markarov this after I healed your wounds, that the thing you and Wendy saw, while it was my body, wasn't really me. Hades sealed away my true self when I tried to leave Grimiore Heart 3 years ago and destroyed my life. He made me a passenger in my own body, while the fake me killed hundreds of innocent people." Naruto blocked a magic blast from Hades as he continued talking to Natsu. "Like the fake me said, they weren't my friends, they were my enemies! And now, I'm not your enemy, I'm here to save your stupid asses, so go be a good little damsel in distress, and stay out of my way!" Naruto threw Natsu towards the rest of his friends, causing Natsu to comically land his face between Lucy's breasts.

"You know, it's rude to interrupt somebody when he is trying to talk." Naruto said to Hades, his outstretched hand the only indication that he had attacked just now.

"If you're going to leave yourself open like that, you should be prepared for the consequences." Hades said as he reached to take of his eyepatch. "Before I begin demolishing you, I have one question. My seal should have kept you suppressed, so how did you manage to pull yourself out?"

"Honestly, I don't know how it's possible myself," Naruto admitted. "All I know is that the strange mixture of Dragonslayer and Godslayer flames somehow weakened the seal enough that I could force my way back to the surface."

"Hmph," Hades grunted.

"You know, I just remembered something, Precht Gaelbolg," Naruto said, annoying Hades as he invoked his old name when he was Fairy Tail's 2nd master. Raising up a hand, a dark silhouette loomed over the God Slayer, his eyes glowed with menace as he growled out to the fallen ex-Master, "You were one of Fairy Tails founding members and it's 2nd Guild Master. I suppose it's ironic, that even though your not a Fairy anymore, the place your adventure started, is the same place you will die!"

"Don't get cocky, brat!" Hades growled out with bemusement, his body lighting up with his dark violet-black aura.

Natsu gasped, as his eyes became enamored at what he saw next. Naruto became embroiled in his own blazing aura of black flame burning the area around him, clashing with the dark, virulent aura of magical power that ebbed off of Hades' figure. Their powers rippled through the atmosphere, becoming stifling to the beaten Fairy Tail Wizards, cementing them to the ground through its sheer pressurized weight within the ship's spacious interior.

When the auras immediately died out, the fight began for real.

Naruto moved first, his fist making its way into Hades' jaw. As the heat of the magical discharge sent Hades across the air, he followed up with a flying knee kick to his face. A swift hand grappled Hades face, thrusting his head straight into metal foundation, using his spare hand to begin discharging a titanic blast of God Slaying Flames. The force was great enough to blast a hole through the ship's hull into the water below, causing the entire superstructure to bounce up in the air dozens of meters before landing back down.

"HE'S GOING OVERBOARD!" Lucy cried out comically, as she and the others were flown haplessly through the air in a tumbling heap near the far end of the ship's bay by the fiery blast.

Through the haze of the blast, a smoke-hued Hades backpedaled away from the crater, flying through the air. A scorching patch of flesh was seen, and a dribble of blood leaked down his jaw, tainting his beard as he smiled with approval, "Hmmmm, your Magical Power is impressive. Who knew taking back your powers from the Kin would increase your powers this much!"

Naruto wordlessly leapt at Hades with a roar, slamming his fist's down onto Hades, who was ready for him, using both of his arms to block Naruto, the impact, destroying the ground beneath them and unleashing a shockwave. Naruto tried a kick, but Hades dodged and socked Naruto right in the jaw, and when Naruto tried to deliver a jab, the old man easily moved out of the way, and got in a clean uppercut, causing Naruto's head to snap up. Naruto cocked his fist back and swung towards Hades face, smashing it and causing spit to fly from the elderly man's mouth as his snapped to the left. Hades, with an amused smirk, threw 3 jabs at Naruto who dodged each, before he came with a kick that the older man ducked under and tried to capitalize with a reaching jab to his face, but Naruto's leg clashed with Hades arm, releasing another shockwave pushing each other back.

Suddenly, the two kicked off the ground and met in the air with Hades knee-ing Naruto in the face as he punched Hades in the jaw, and as the two landed, they immediately began to throw punches and kicks at high speeds as shockwaves continued to destroy their surroundings.

Back and forth the two went, when Hades delivered an uppercut, Naruto would deliver a hook, causing him to spin and kick Naruto in the gut, but Naruto caught his leg and spun Hades around and tossed him toward the ground, which Hades rebounded by using his hands before he hit the ground and slammed his feet into Naruto's face, sending him flying, though Naruto unleashed a quick **Flame God's Bellow,** giving Hades a face full of his black flames.

As Naruto flew forward with jets, he saw a flash emanate from the presumably downed Hades. Turning sharply in mid-air to avoid the attack, a violet-hued beam of destructive energy pierced through the air and through the ship's hull. The explosion that occurred within the horizon was magnanimous enough to cause a large plume of ocean water to uproar off the coast of the island, sending a bristling shockwave that would rock half the ship the blast originated from.

"So that's a full-powered **Explosion** **Bullet**, eh?" Naruto bemusingly observed.

"You dodged that, hm?" Hades grunted out unamused, prying himself from the dented wall, dropping to the ground gracefully. Raising both hands up in the form of finger guns, he smirked darkly, "You're reflexes are as good as I remember. Though I wonder, how exactly do you plan to keep up?"

"I should be asking you that, old bastard!" Naruto snarled, his eyes burning with wild anticipation and frenzied violence.

"Hmph," Hades' smirk receded, his eye narrowing a fraction with disdain. As violet light coalesced both sets of fingers, his eye widened dramatically as he shouted out with frenzied fury, "**Rapid Blaster**!"

What seemed like a storm of magic bullets hailed across the air. Naruto stood still as the onslaught of energy bullets flew towards him, impassive about the threat heading his way. A single swing of his arm, and a quick burst of **Flame God's Cloud** burned and dispersed all of the bullets in a single stroke.

"W-What?!" Hades' eye widened with disbelief.

"**Flame God's...**" A swift foot stomp forward, Naruto arced both arms over his head, unleashing an large Claymore made of black flame, "**...SEVERING FLAME!**" Naruto swung downward, causing Hades to dodge to the left. The claymore slammed into the ships hull, cutting through it and unleashing a wave of black fire that burned through more. Naruto then redirected the attack and swung towards Hades head.

"Don't kid yourself!" Hades shook his head, swinging his hand out to create a transparent purple dome in front of himself. The weapon of god killing flames was sapped, replaced by a swiftly growing orb of Darkness Magic under Hades Control, "I can turn any magic into Darkness-"

A swift motion was made by Naruto with his arm pointed up, with his two index fingers extedned, a dark look of foreboding concentration etched upon his features.

Hades' brow upraised with query, wondering what the brat was up to. Green wood rose up around him until it formed into a large dragon made of wood with a trunk-like now and wrapped around him. It drained the orb of **Darkness Magic **until it was the size of Naruto's fist. Hades looked down with alarm, whispering aghast, "A **Great Tree Dragon**-?!"

Devastation was wrought within a moment later, as Naruto thrust his hand forward, the **Great Tree Dragon** glowing for a moment before it exploded, releasing an enormous tower of explosive flames towards the sky.

"Not bad, old man. I should have expected that wouldn't do much to you," Naruto dryly commented, his eyes glared forward at the experienced Dark Guild Master who stepped out of the smoke and dust cloud.

"You're quicker on your feet than I gave you credit for, boy!" Hades complimented aloud, as he conjured chains with hooks on them. With deft swings, he hurtled them at Naruto, whom had impassively stared at them.

A swift discharge of flames underneath his boots, and Naruto was dodging around the chains and making a bee line for Hades. As he approached within his target and prepared to smash Hades skull in with a **Flame's Gods Righteous Fist,** an eruption of magic power came out of Hades' hand.

The compressed shockwave struck Naruto in the chest, throwing him back into a steel girder. Falling onto his knees, he coughed at the pain that flowed throughout his body. Dropping the chains, Hades opted to swiftly gesture his two right-handed forefingers, creating a black-purple triplet of dark seals.

As the violet circles weighed down on Naruto, the God Slayer looked around aghast at the high level magic symbols, " **Amaterasu Formula #33**?!"

"TAKE THIS!" Hades shouted out, his burnt right hand opening wide with loud declaration.

"Tch!" Naruto sneered, his body briefly glowing, appearing to sink into the ground, just as the seal detonated. The expansive sphere roared out, sending bristling air waves to rock the interior of the ship, with Naruto trapped inside.

"No way...!" Gray uttered with dread.

"There's no way he could've escaped-!" Erza cut herself short, biting her lip until blood oozed from her lip.

"Oh no!" Wendy gasped, holding her hands up to her face.

"Oh my, that was a bit too close for comfort," Naruto' voice emanated from the ground as he returned to normal, "I used **Tree Merge** to merge with ground just now. Bet you weren't expecting such a lowly spell for a counter, were you?"

"Damned brat!" Hades snarled, carving two more trails of Amaterasu seals within the air, "I'll destroy you without remorse! **Amaterasu Formula #89!**"

What seemed like two intersecting rows of parallel aligned Amaterasu circles floating in front of each hand of Hades, dark orbs of coalescing destructive power formed within their centers.

"Like I'll let that hit me!" Naruto muttered lowly, igniting his aura of magical power, zooming to the side with his jets. What he avoided he only described as a terrifying maw of darkness, roaring out as it tore through the hull of the ship and a cleft of Tenrou Island, detonating far away in a violent plume of dark magical power.

As violet-black electrical sparks of magical power crackled around Hades, he grinned maliciously in Naruto' direction. His left eye gleamed with destructive intent, as his voice growled out with hungry desire, "Come now, boy! Are you backing down from all those brave barks you gave me? No more bite left in you?!"

_'I should probably stop messing around with him,'_ Naruto levelly admitted to himself, his visage shielded from Hades by the smoke, _'We are evenly matched at this point.' _Naruto moved his hands to his side and muttered "**Devil Sword."**

Through the smoke, Hades was watching for Naruto's next move, when Naruto stepped inside his guard again, as he swung his sword in an upward arc. Hades didn't have time to counter as Naruto sword followed through, cutting a gash along his chest.** "Single Blade: Rising Flash."**

"Shit!" Hades said in shock as he didn't see that coming.

"And next, **Devil Style: Soul Burial**!" Naruto said as magic condensed around his sword and raised it above his head and swung it down, unlashing a wave of purple magic energy in the form of a giant monster head. The blast hit Hades and released a massive explosion that shook the ship and lifted it out the ground slightly for a moment.

"Amazing," Erza said in awe at such magnificent swordsmenship. She also took a moment to examine the blade he was using. It is an eccentrically crafted o-katana with a curved blade and a flame like design on it. The guard is a white skull with four horns that protrude from the side of its head, curving slightly; there is also a fifth horn coming out from its forehead. It's eyes are round with three cracks-like tattoos coming downwards from its eyes. The handle is slightly longer than that of an average katana, half of it is white and when touched feels like a bone, while the other half is made from black and red silk, kneaded together like a web.

'He's winning,' Lucy thought.

"Just how many magics does this guy know?" Gray wondered.

"We might just beat him." Wendy though in relief.

"He was going easy on me before," Natsu said as he didn't really get what Naruto had been saying like the others did, but he understood that Naruto was much stronger now and wasn't Fairytail's enemy anymore. It ignited something within Natsu to know that he might have another rival.

"**Devil Style,"** Hades said as he stepped out of the smoke, still sporting his bleeding gash and sporting more bruises. "A style of **Sword Magic,** where you compress magic energy around your sword before releasing it as various energy blast's. It's been a long time since I've seen that move in particular. Not since I sealed your true self away and created the persona of Zancrow."

"You," Naruto growled as he was reminded of that, "Don't mock me by speaking of that!" a pillar of black flames shot into the air, threatening to ignite what was left of the ship. Before the flames shrunk and clung to Naruto's body like a second skin, the flames taking on the appearance of his **Flame God's Supper**. **"Flame God's Aura!"**

Hades was about to say something when Naruto, in a burst of speed, slammed his burning fist into Hades face, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

"Gaugh!" Hades gasped out, as the heat from the flames coursed through his body and burned his skin in succession with the blow that landed upon his person.

Naruto spun around, landing a spinning kick to Hades head, sending him piercing through the air, only to reappear in a black blur to punt him across the ship's interior. Each attack was deafening and blinding to the observers, shaking the confines of the heavily armored vessel with unbridled ferocity, as the Dark Wizard was pummeled relentlessly by the powered-up God Slayer.

"You betrayed my trust!" Naruto snarled out, lariating the profusely bleeding old enemy, thrusting him into the far wall of the ships hull. The effect caused an explosion of intense heat and flame to elapse, burning and melting its surface for a good dozen meters.

Hades barely stood, both arms scalding from burns. His hair was frazzled in many directions, blood oozing from his lips, mingling into his beard to taint its white hue into a crimson stained tresses. His attire had been shredded, torn, and burnt, leaving most of his surprisingly durable and muscular physique in a battered state.

"You stole 3 years of my life and made me a slave!" Naruto shouted in rage as he smashed a **Flame God's Righteous Fist** into Hades face, sending him flying back a dozen meters.

"I'm gonna make you pay!" Naruto shouted as he spoke an incantation for a spell in his head. '_When you burn down the east and you burn down the west'. _"NOW DDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Naruto shouted as he blasted Hades with a **Flame God's Kagutsuchi, **releasing a titanic explosion that engulfed the area.

"Hah...Hah...Hah!" Hades heaved, his single eye staring with not fear or anguish, but analysis. Even after all the punishment he received, he hardly looked shaken, almost as if his confidence had been regained after being granted a moment of respite. That is, until his eye widened at the magical power surging around Naruto.

"**Flame God's**..." Naruto growled as his aura became a face that was almost alive and started to come off of his body.

"Here it comes...!" Hades muttered lowly to himself, eye widened with preparation, his fingers moving quickly, applying a strong Defense to protect himself. **_'Maximum Defense Seal: Devil's Blessing!'_**, Hades thought as his body glowed with purple Magic briefly.

"...**HEAVENWARD DANCE!**" Naruto roared out, the face of black flames leaping off of Naruto's body at blinding speed and reaching Hades, giving him no time to mount another defense as the giant face chomped down on Hades, before taking him up into the air nearly 200 feet. The flames exploded into a giant orb of black flame, producing a blast almost as big as the one Hades generates when he uses **Amaterasu Formula #100. **The force generated by the explosion pushed the ocean back from the shore.

"A-Amazing!" Erza gasped aloud, her eyes wide with awe as much as her own jaw dropped.

"He did it!" Natsu crowed out, kneeling up with both arms upraised, a wide smile stretched across his face.

"Oi!" Gray suddenly noted the stillness in Naruto' flame covered form, and the hazy silhouette landing where Naruto's spell had first struck, "is that guy...still standing?!"

"No way!" Lucy breathed out with horrified eyes, her mouth covered by her hands by what she saw.

Hades indeed still lived. Charred flesh outlined his arms, scalding black burns enamoring his legs and chest, showing that he had somehow staved off the majority of the attack. No longer did he breathe raggedly or looked afraid. In fact, he seemed elated and excited at the prospect of such a power standing before him.

"That was a magnificent display of power," Hades murmured out, retracting his arms to cross over his chest, a violet light flashing around his form before a set of unmarred clothes were donned upon him once more, "had I not prepared a defense before being hit, I might very well have been done for just now. Young folk always place too much stock into one flashy attack, they never plan ahead."

"I knew you were hiding things from me before I sealed you away, but I did not anticipate you had such spells at your disposal. We truly are evenly matched at moment, yet if we continue like this for much longer, I might actually lose. It's time to obliterate you," Hades announced, a right armored hand reached up, grasping his eyepatch. With a swift tug, it was removed, and his voice grew guttural as a red eye slowly opened, "**Devil's Eye...OPEN!**"

In that moment, all of the Fairy Tail members present felt a cold, nauseous feeling overwhelm them. A sickly darkness settled over the ship, violet-black rivulets of magical energy swirled around Hades, lapsing over the air like smoldering smoke, a piercing red eye glowing throughout it all. His beard, hair, and visage seemed to sharpen and stretch out, giving him a truly dark and deranged appearance in comparison to his priorly distinguished appearance.

Naruto could feel his throat tighten, and his eyes widen at the sheer precipice of power that Hades attained. Unlike the nearly unlimited reserves of magic before, it seemed like that limit had been cut down to a third. And with the energy Naruto had used up during their fight, he knew that Hades held the proverbial high ground over him.

"Allow me to show you...the Abyss of Sorcery!" Hades grated out, his arms meticulously moving in opposing directions, like pendulums of a clock.

"T-Those movements...is that…?!" Erza wheezed out, the pressure and nauseous sensation weighing heavily over her.

"From the Book of Zeref, Chapter 4, Verse 12: **Nemesis!**" Hades declared as his right hand swiveled with its palm upright in front of him, and his left arm held at an angle behind his back.

In that instant, the debris itself began to be animated. Grotesque monstrosities grew into sizes of various shapes, all being as large as Naruto himself, howling and snarling with malicious intent. The red veins glowed morbidly off their violet-black forms, looking like a form of wraiths than actual living beings.

"The longer you tread the world of Magic, the darker its essence becomes. My devils of the earth will wrought pain, anguish, and destruction upon all whom I unleash them upon!" Hades uttered aloud in a dramatic, menacing tone as Naruto stood still in the face of the dark army of animated devils that were created in front of him.

"I-Its all over...its over..." Wendy cried underneath Erza's arm.

"How can we survive that?!" Lucy wept bitterly.

"Why isn't that Naruto guy making a move?! What is he waiting for?!" Gray uttered in a fear-filled tone, his eyes wide and staring upon the depraved creations of Hades.

"BE QUITE, ALL OF YOU!" came Laxus's voice, causing all of their depression-ridden dialogue to halt all together. An emphasized fist slammed into the ground next to him, as Laxus growled with certainty towards Naruto' faintly glowing outline through the dark, murky haze of Hades' power, "That Naruto guy has given up yet! Now shut up and watch the fight. He's our only chance of surviving this, so pray for the Guild's sake that he wins!"

"Laxus..." Natsu gasped, never expecting to hear the once arrogant grandson of their guild master speak such words of confidence and humility. He could only thank him, as his eyes went back towards Naruto' impassive visage, waiting to see how the outcome of this battle would be.

Naruto could faintly hear thunder above them all. As his head craned up towards the open sky, Hades could only sneer at him with suspicion.

"What's the matter, boy?! Are you too afraid to face the Devil, Hades of Grimoire Heart?!" Hades grated out incredulously.

The flames of his aura intensified as Naruto assumed a stance, dense flames gathering in each fist. "Prepare to witness one the **Flame God's Sacred Hallowed Arts,** old man."

Hades' eyes widened with realization, his mouth opening agape. A swift gesture later, the Mud Devils discharged tendrils of virulent energy at Naruto, their creator shouting back, "I won't let you-!"

**"Too late! EBONY INFERNO: OVERWORLD SUPREMACY!"** Naruto shouted as with the single punch, he burned the through the tendrils of energy by releasing a large and fierce blaze. The mud devils created by Hades charged at Naruto, while Hades prepared another attack. One devil that was closest to Naruto tried to attack him. Naruto smashed his fist into it, setting fire to the pure magic being and unleashing a sonic boom, disorienting the Fairy Tail Mages. With each punch, the devil's were ignited and exploded in volumous gouts of flame, each punch breaking the sound barrier, until all that was left of the devil pack was a tower of roaring black flame.

By now, 90% of the ship no longer existed, as Naruto and Hades dropped to the ground outside, landing on the sandy beach. "All of my devils!" Hades said in shock as Naruto had destroyed all of them. They were essentially made of pure magic, so that they were destroyed was even more astounding! Hades could still feel the intensity of his flames.

"Trust me, that wasn't the full power of the technique." Naruto stated, as he had used it in it's weakest variation. "I hope that wasn't all you could do. Because that is, I won't keep wasting my time."

"Hmph, such arrogance. Did I teach you nothing during the time you were actually loyal to me. That was just a distraction!" Hades said as a ring of dense purple magic rose from the ground, and shrunk until Naruto was caught in it.

"Grh! I can't break free! What is this!?" Naruto cursed as he struggled against his new restraints.

"Grimoire Hearts answer to Fairy Glitter!" Hades revealed shocking the Fairy Tail Mages present as they watched from a safe distance. "Just as Fairy Glitter gathers light of the heavens to power the spell, this spell gathers the darkness in peoples hearts for it's power. And the 2 greatest sources on this island are you and I, Naruto! _Now__ rise! O black cloud of darkness that swallows the light!_ **Devil's Imperium!**" A large blast of dark magic covered the area, Naruto's cries of agony could be heard though the blast.

When the dust finally settled, Hades thought he had won but instead, through the smoke, he saw Naruto's silhouette. But something was different about his flames.

"White Flames?" Hades pondered, having never seen this before.

The smoke cleared, and Naruto was indeed covered in a layer of pure white flames, but that was not the only thing different about him. His hair had turned bright red and his sclera had turned black. He was still sporting massive bruises, his coat was gone, his armor demolished, bleeding heavily from his limp left arm and the left side of his face was covered in blood, but he was still alive.

"What is that?" Wendy wondered from her place on the sidelines while Gray and Erza helped Laxus.

"It feels like before," Erza muttered to herself as her mind flashed back to when Natsu ate Etherion.

"God Slayers," Naruto said, his voice carrying through the entire area as members of Fairytail started to emerge from the tree line, though Natsu and the others were to enraptured by the fight to notice, "Were the first humans to learn magic that was designed for killing the creatures that trained them. Everything about Devil Slayers and Dragon Slayers, was developed by watching God Slayers. So tell me, what do you think the God Slayers answer to **Dragon Force **is?"

"It can't be," Erza widened as she was right.

"His power!" Lucy said in surprise as she helped Natsu lean on her, feeling Naruto's magic energy become an overwhelming oppressive wave that threatened to crush them into dust.

"It's higher than what's coming from Master Precht!" Markarov said from his place as Naruto rose into the air.

'_None of us ever had a chance in hell against the old bastard, did we?'_ Laxus thought as he realized how outmatched Natsu's team really was against Hades and even his gramps and Laxus himself were outclassed as Hades was not taking any of them seriously the whole time. Had it not been for Naruto, all of them would have died. '_Only a monster could defeat another monster like that.'_

**"GOD FORCE!" **Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, white flames erupting from the earth beneath him as he flew high into the air to get some distance for his spell, white flames growing hotter and hotter as the humidity his flames invoked a change of air currents bringing about Storm clouds , before he propelled himself back down to the earth towards Hades, nosediving towards his prey and leaving behind a long wake of flames.

Down below Naruto, Hades gathered his Magic energy to its peak. Dozens of demonic apparitions fused together, creating what seemed like a dome of protective, gelatinous energy as Hades prepared his own counterattack.

"To think this brat would force me to use this... inconceivable!" Hades growled lowly to himself, swiveling both hands in opposing vertical angles, a sphere of dark maelstrom energy flowing in between his digits as it primed itself.

**"Grimoire La-"** Hades began to utter aloud, the darkness expanding at an alarming rate around the beach. But then, that darkness was completely nullified. A brilliant flash of white flames burned right through it. It shattered the shield made by the Nemesis devils in one swoop, diving into Hades before his dark spell could finalize, and thrust him into the sea below with Naruto.

"**HIDDEN FIRE FORM: WHITE INFERNO: GREAT EARTH DECAPITATING FISSURE!**" Naruto roared out magnanimously as he spiraled down with his enemy, his good fist impaling into the dark linen-covered chest of Hades.

When they struck the bottom of the ocean, a pillar of white flame discharged upwards, with Naruto' fists slamming into Hades' chest. The uproar of water and white flames was enough to split apart what was left of Hades vessel, sending it tumbling on its side over and over with titanic waves flowing in all directions while the intense heat evaporated the salty sea for miles and the very earth itself shook.

Throughout the brilliant light, Naruto glared inhumanly down at the swiftly incinerating form of Hades as he croaked out a silent, pained scream, "**BURN IN HELL, HADES!**"

And that's exactly what happened. Hades body was turned to dust along with hundreds of meters of seabed. Naruto avenged himself upon Hades as not even the ash of his body was left.

For the Fairy Tail Wizards, they were in complete awe as Naruto's attack burned away and evaporated miles of ocean water, and as the initial attack ended, the flames left behind continued to burn and evaporate more water, allowing Naruto to walk back to the shore without being swallowed by the waves. He seemed to be in deep thought as he walked back. As he nearly made it to shore, the eyepatch that Hades always wore to cover up his Devil's Eye floated down in front of him. Naruto looked at it for a moment before he picked it up, while taking off his nearly destroyed shirt and used it as a makeshift sling for his useless arm while he finished making his way back to the surface, thinking about the years of his life that now felt like a waste, which for the 19 year old, was all the time he spent with Grimoire Heart.

With a sigh, he exited his God Force, his features returning to normal. HE still could only maintain it for 5 minutes, so that was why he preferred to save God Force as a last resort. As he stepped back onto the shore, he saw that Fairy Tail was celebrating their victory over Grimoire Heart, though Markarov was yelling at Laxus, something about him still being expelled and what not, with Elfman commenting on it, and Mira telling Elfman that Markarov would eventually change his mind.

When Naruto came into view, Markarov walked over to him. The look they shared made it so they did not need to speak. Naruto opened the palm that held the eye patch and Markarov sighed, as he would like to remember Precht as the wise old master that taught Markarov how to be a great guild master and not the monster he eventually became.

"Do you feel like a burden has been lifted from your shoulders?" Markarov asked him and Naruto sighed.

"No, all that anger, the hatred I have for him, it's all still there." Naruto admitted, as even killing every mage in Grimoire Heart except Meredy and Ultear had not caused his hate for the guild to abate any.

"And that it something you will live with for the rest of your life. But it need not define you." Markarov said as he extended his hand out for Naruto. "Come with us back to camp and join us at Fairy Tail."

Naruto was stunned. He knows he had kinda mentioned that at one pint he wanted to join because of Mira and her siblings but that was before all the Zancrow shit happened. And yet, "I'm not like Gajeel and Juvia. I killed innocent people for Hades long before he turned me into a slave. I slaughter a whole guild for sins of a few people against me. I'm a monster." Naruto said solemnly as he looked at Markarov out of the corner of his eye. Why would want me in your guild?"

"For me , letting a young man stay in the abyss when I could have done something to pull him out, is the most unforgiveable sin of all." Markarov saud and Naruto was truly touched by that. Markarov held his hand out for Naruto to take. "I cannot promise you complete redemption. All I can do is offer you a path out of the darkness. Will you walk that path with us, or to forgo it and remain where you are?

Before Naruto could say anything, Elfman and Mira finally saw.

"N-N-Naruto-nii?" Elfman said in surprise. Naruto raised his head to look at Elfman with a nostalgic.

"Hey there, squirt," Naruto said, as he used to call Elfman that as kids, even though Elfman was bigger than him now.

"It is you," Elfman said with elation in his voice before he wrapped Naruto in a bear hug. "Naruto-Nii is a MAN!"

"Ow Elfman! That was my injured arm!" Naruto told him when he heard something crack as Elfman looked sheepish and he let Naruto down. Naruto had a nostalgic smile on his face as he gazed at ELfman before he heard Mira's voice.

"Naruto-kun?" whispered Mirajane softly with widened eyes, as he turned his gaze to her.

"Mira-chan." the man smiled as he looked over at the girl.

Mirajane couldn't help but immediately be reminded of one of the many childhood memories she shared with Naruto when she still lived in her old home town. It has been over six years since the last time she had seen Naruto, but the instant she looked into his eyes she knew who he was. It was surreal; the one childhood friend that made her living hell of a childhood bearable, the man that she had unresolved romantic feelings for, had saved her, her siblings, and their adopted family at the last possible moment.

"Naruto." Mirajane didn't really know what to say, but her smile said it all.

"Come here, Mira," he said with his good arm wide open, waiting for her to hug him. And hug she did: she jumped on him and tightly wrapped her arms around him, hanging onto him. Naruto embraced her slender waist while his heart fluttered at her display of affection. He could feel just how much she had missed him from how tightly she was hugging him. He too buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply the fresh flowery scent coming from her silky white hair. "I missed you too, Mira-chan."

Naruto took one look at Markarov and gave a subtle nod, letting him know that he intended that path. With all of Fairy Tail by his side.

**Chapter End**


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